Tal_N

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  1. [ QUOTE ]
    I can understand where you're coming from, but you also need to recognose that not everyone likes that, and some people (such as myself) outright hate it.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    You know I hate it when people put things into my mouth, I did state in that post that:

    " alot of us crafters don't mind if the process of putting together something took no skill as long as the gathering did and the end result is useful."

    I did not say ALL of us crafters do nor did I imply thay everone has the same opinion as myself.

    As for the skill system themselves, I fail to see why Jack is finding it difficult to overcome the whole 'click a button and the game runs a number crunch for success/failure' issue. I can sit here for mabe 30 seconds and tell you that if they turn each action of using a skill into a mini-game then it makes it fun. If it's safecracking then have a combination puzzle minigame and if its interogation have something along the line of what The Punisher game did for that with stress levels and pushing the victim too far. If they tie the skills as closely as possible to how they'd function in the real world then it becomes inherantly more fun.

    What I suspect is that the devs aren't willing to invest the kind of time needed to create a mini-game for each skill to be used and want a more simple solution which just isn't going to happen.

    As for crafting as a whole, who says it needs to be items you craft as the end result. What if its unlockable content which is the end result, the process of an investigation leads to the collection of a bunch of salvage which is assembled to produce a teleporter which gives you access to a certain story arc for example. That is a worthwhile reward even if its not a temp power or anything.

    All the devs need to do to make crafting less than trivial is create a supply and demand situation. The devs know what we want so they only have to create the ability for players to supply it. Costume items, base equipment, missions, badges, auras, epic ATs, new powersets.. the list goes on and on. Better still is that its leads to 'uber loot' which doesn't give anyone an advantage other than having more fun than someone else. As long as the loot isn't from a specific spawn like they have with the salvage system then it doesn't lead to spawn camping either.

  2. Statesman seems to think that there is no satisfaction in crafting where you just put some items together into a menu and hit build. But the fact is that this kind of thing has been in games for years and years and yet they are still requested by players. The WoW system isn't unique and franking the best crafting system I've ever seen was in SWG where you had to place various materials into the menu and their induvidual qualities and stats effected the outcome.

    In the end though its not the action of building which is what people enjoy, its the gathering and the outcome of the crafting they like. Even Statesman must understand that its nice to make something which you can give to someone else to enjoy, I mean he helps to make City of Heroes so he knows the kind of satisfation you get from seeing others enjoy what you made. It wasn't the action of making it which is the enjoyment, its the knowledge that you made something yourself and someone else likes it.

    The crafting system doesn't have to be detailed, it could just be like the current one with the Forges and stuff. But the items you make need to be enjoyable and how you go about collecting the items should be clever. Those aspects are easy to achieve.

    If you want to put it into a superhero themed environment, then gathering clues should lead to forming some evidence which is either used to go on a mission to get an item or is given to an NPC to get the item.

    This is more about the destination than the journey Jack, alot of us crafters don't mind if the process of putting together something took no skill as long as the gathering did and the end result is useful.
  3. While I agree that marketting City of Villains as a sequel caused disapointment for many players expecting something totally different and more akin to what you'd expect from a sequel to a recent game I have to disagree with almost every other comment within your post. Ultimately you're not just of a different opinion, you're just flat out wrong.

    [ QUOTE ]
    6 zones

    [/ QUOTE ]
    Cape Au Diable, Mercy Island, St. Martial, Nerva Achipeligo, Sharkhead Isle, Bloody Bay, Sirens Call, Warburg and Port Oakes. Last time I did basic math that came to 9 not 6, PvP or not those are new zones with content for both PvP and PvE.

    [ QUOTE ]
    5 re-mixed ATs

    [/ QUOTE ]
    While its fair to say that the Corruptor plays similar to a Defender and a Brute plays like a scrapper or tank, its impossible to say that a Dominator, Stalker and certainly the Mastermind plays anything like existing hero ATs.

    [ QUOTE ]
    4 'new' enemy npcs

    [/ QUOTE ]
    Arachnos, Longbow, The Legacy Chain, Wyvern, the Scrapyarders, Coralax, Ghost Pirates, Cage Consortium, Goldbrickers, Luddites, Shivan, Slag Golems, Snakes and the Wailers. Thats not including ones like Bat'Zul's minions either or the energy demons from the cape.

    Thats about the same as what city of heroes had at lanch if not more. At launch CoH had:

    5th Column, Banished Pantheon, Circle of Thorns, Clockwork, Crey, Devouring Earth, The Family, Freakshow, Hellions, The Lost, The Rikti, Outcasts, Rikti, Skulls, Vahzilok, Skyraiders, Tsoo, Trolls and the Warriors.

    CoH = 19 groups, CoV = 14 groups

    Thats skipping minor groups like the hydra, prisoners and infected. So not a huge difference in the numbers there especially considering how Arachnos is as large and varied as 3 villain groups combined.

    [ QUOTE ]
    3 unique powersets

    [/ QUOTE ]
    Even the mastermind primaries total 4 new sets, just because 2 of the attack powers in three of them a pre-existing doesn't change the fact that they're 95% new. You could argue that the assault sets are a remix of existing powers but the set as a whole is fundementally new.

    [ QUOTE ]
    0 Accolades
    0 Items of Power
    0 HO's for villains

    [/ QUOTE ]

    No different to city of heroes at launch. But CoV has bases which are totally new and loot and crafting not to mention gladiator matches.

    In the end when you look at it in the shallow ways which you did, you're wrong by even your own reasoning.
  4. Tal_N

    Accuracy

    Folks, try to remember. You can only have a maximum accuracy of 95%, so within that small 5% fraction is still possible to constantly miss. The streakbreacker kicks in after 5-6 consequtive misses as far as I know. But that can still result in you missing 6 out of 7 attacks if you have a bad run of luck.
  5. [ QUOTE ]
    [ QUOTE ]
    You're wasting your time. Reason, fairness, and other silly things like that are foreign concepts to developers. Remember, such foes are the equivalents their characters, and they're not going to gimp their characters vs. the Enemy (players).

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I trust you'll be happy to learn that I changed Ballista based on feedback in this thread.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    "Ohhh, I don't care what universe your from.. that's gotta hurt!!"
  6. I've seen Luthor Corp. around, did consider reporting them but figured it might not be trademarked or copyrighted.
  7. Oh and one more thing, characters who are remakes of existing NPC villain groups (Outcasts, Vahzilok, Circle of Thorns, Malta ect..) are very welcome in our group. Incase anyone is wondering you can get an almost exact copy of the Vahzilok Eidolons with the villain costume sets.
  8. The Exiles

    A themed villain group for all types of players as long as they actively play the game on at least a weekly basis. We accept roleplayers, hardcore and casual players and organise events at least once a month. All major decisions effecting the VG are discussed beforehand so members can help shape the development of the group.

    Contact @Tal-N on global or Eidolon Nomad on the Virtue server. This group is ideal for UK and European players as many of the members are also from that region. Primarally a PvE group however PvP events do take place.

    A no-ties invitation scheme is available which will allow you basic access to the VGs facilities however you will be unable to invite new members until you are authorised as a genuine member.
  9. The Lusca is a very tame giant monster to be honest, but its still capable of 2-shotting someone. Some of the more popular giant monsters like Jurrasik or Babbage are known to one shot heroes all the time.
  10. Even though monsters are autoscaled to do and take damage based on who they are hitting or being hit by the fact remains that a giant monster is actually classed above an AV in terms of everything. Giant Monsters have higher damage cap than an AV, more resists and in general a good 77.3% more bada55ness than your average arch-villain/hero.

    So yes, you need more than an 8 man team or at least some very solid tactics.
  11. Prices for enhancements are the same for both CoV and CoH, the only difference is that people got used to passing INF down to their lower level characters from their level 50s.
  12. Tal_N

    PvP rep

    My highest hero repuation is 12. Then again I don't play much.
  13. The servers aren't yellow because they had their capacity increased before CoV was added to the existing servers, unlike companies like SOE they don't like to see the servers buckle under the pressure of players before they decide to fork out the cash to upgrade them.

    If there was actually a number counter for the active population you'd find that the number of players has actually risen quite sharply.
  14. You ASSUMED you could have a 2-day head start because you pre-ordered, you ASSUMED wrong. The devs did not say that all pre-orders will get a 2-day head start and the newsletter that went out to EVERYONE clearly says that you can buy the special pre-order version of the game from 'these retailers'. It did NOT say that all pre-orders had a 2-day head start, you jumped to conclusions.

    Educate yourself about a product before you buy it, this is a mistake you made not mismarketting by NCSoft.
  15. Crey have been starting to take some flack for their illegal operations and its clear that they're a corperation with a very shaky future atm. There are new Crey agents called 'Public Relations Officers' who you see around their headquarters in the Rogue Isles as well as alot of journalists and paparattzi with cameras trying to sneak into the yard behind their base where they're holding all manner of villains and creatures for 'tests'. Their base is actually right infront of the respec demon which gives you the level 30ish quest.

    Oddly enough they maintain their appearence in the game around the mid to high 30s, which is different from the Tsoo who have been moved from a 15-ish group to a 30-40 group in the advanced islands.

    The strange thing is that the shot with the Crey having Devoured in containment is actually a scene from within a Lowbow base in the Nerva Achapelego. Longbow and Crey working together? Most concerning.
  16. From what I can see the 1-20 part of the game is almost without flaws. At least in content and actual bugs. Imbalances exist, and some missions like 'defeat all snakes in casino' have the main doors being camped by large teams of enemies when your team is between six to eight people.

    Theres minor glitches here and there, errors with the Zombie henchmen are the most obvious I have filed reports about them but on the whole there is nothing game breaking. The upper levels from 20+ really need alot more testing however its just not going to happen in the next week or two. People who powerlevel and rush ahead are going to run into bugs but those who play at a steady pace will find things patched just as they get to those areas of the game.

    Is it ready? As ready as it needs to be, later levels need work but no one is going to be able to take part in that content for a month or two so there will be time to patch it.
  17. You know this is annoying, the COV beta uses the same directory as the TC so I can only realistically do one or the other.
  18. Thats a joke considering how the ED change itself is actually making stamina weaker by around 25%. A 13% discount is your idea of compensation? Get lost! Drop this ED or I'm dropping my subscription!

    I find your attempt to bribe the playerbase insulting considering that your offering less than what is being taken away.
  19. [ QUOTE ]
    'No offense, but [insert offensive statement].'

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Since when is making a negative comment about someones style of character intended to be personal attack? I don't know the guy, nor do I have any intention to make personal insults. But I'm shocked that a costume that just black stone with arm and foot wraps and a belt which doesn't fit the theme (in my opinion) was seen as better than other entries. If that costume was in a costume contest in Atlas Park it'd certainly not stand out in the slightest.
  20. Ok so let me get this right. The winner wasn't chosen because his costume was good or because his story was original. They just wanted an agyptian costume and a character of egyptian origin to add this little snippet of information about the BotBS which is part of the card game.

    That seems rather unfair since they didn't say that they wanted egyptian characters and it ruled out the chance of Kheldians chaacters being viable. If I'd know that I wouldn't have sent in my Warshade.

    And no offense intended to the person who won but that costume is utterly terrible, dull in the extreme.
  21. My question for Manticore is this.

    How does the team decide on names for characters/races/items/groups/zones in the game?

    For example, things like Kheldian isn't just something you can pluck of out of the air from existing fiction. Does the team have a brainstorming sessions where they throw out ideas or do they just go down a sheet with sylables until something sounds good. Clearly Coralax is a sea themed name. So did you just have a list like.

    Coral -ax
    Coral -or
    Coral -en
    Coral -at

    ...and see what sounded good?

    (edit) Two more questions, inreguards to continuity this time.

    This story bible you are working from which outlines the overarching storyline.

    How far ahead does it detail things? Are you looking at it all being played out over 2-3 years of the game's existance or does is simply cover the next 12 months of development with it being continually updated?

    Next.. the 5th Column. My question is as follows.

    A great deal of controversy surrounds the take over of the 5th Column by the Counsil. Many people claim its tied to development issues rather than something that was planned as part of the storyline. The devs have said it was planned however I have two questions which are genuine concerns in reguards to the continuity and raise suspicion.

    Why was the Nazi/5th Column Dimention where the Axis won WWII mission (in the Portal Corp story arcs) changed into a Counsil controlled world? Surely there was no need to remove and rework that mission at all since it had no bearing on the take over of the 5th Column at all. Additionaly, why have almost all references to the 5th Column removed from the game and replaced with things like 'Requiem's old organisation'? Or the fact that the Atlas Statue no longer lists the attack on Independance Port being staged by the 5th Column? Its been changed to simply being a generic Axis army.

  22. The Furies were born from the blood of Heaven along with the Giants. The Titans who evenetually had decendants like Zeus ect.. ect.. were most likely punished by the Furies who were very much about Justice and Revenge so it makes perfect sense that they eventually exacted justice and revenge on the Titans who's ancestors were responsible for killing their 'father'.

    Maybe they stripped their power and put it into a well or something. Personally I liked it better when the origin of the incarnates were tied to the theory of the World Tree and the Spring of Life/Wisdom.
  23. Galaxy City really could do with a bit of something to define it better. Its far less grand than Atlas Park and I think the main reason why AP is so popular is because of the huge gathering areas near city hall. Galaxy City has nothing of the sort and nothing that really makes it stand out and look unique, even the arena just sits there but since no one uses those the zone loses its appeal.

    Frankly devs I think you need to seriously consider that feature you planned in beta where neighborhoods where heroes didn't go regularly enough started to be taken over by the local gangs causing larger spawns to occour and altering the surroundings to make them look abused. That would get people to go to Galaxy City because otherwise the place would look like the ghetto.
  24. Ahh well we saw that the spiders actually ended up looking totally different. However that design was great and I personally feel it should be kept on the shelf incase it can be used for something else.